Athearn - MDC Roundhouse Now Dead?

I will abandon all claim to every cent I've put in if I can bail out right now, and pay no more Social Security tax...

You don't have a claim on what you've put in - I do :-).

You have a claim on what your grandkids put in.

I once worked someone who was around when SS started. According to him, they did it as "pay as you go" because they couldn't get it through as a "savings" plan. Nobody trusted the government to keep the money till they retired. Or not to hyperinflate which amounts to the same thing.

However, at 67, and having paid both halves as self-employed for much of my career, I plan on living till I get most of it back. Since I was on the upper end of contributions, if you convert them all to todays dollars I'll have to live to somewhere around 85-90 :-).

Ok...what about spare parts? Part of what I liked about MDC was the ability to order replacement parts for my Shay locos, or get parts for use in scratchbuilding. Will Horizon keep that option open for those of us that are trying to model equipment that is not available commercially?

Michael

This will depend on the structure of the company and the business fads they choose to follow. If the company decides to keep an eye on it's own situation, and keep a stock of repair parts, which means having an inventory, (considered bad by todays practices) parts will probably be available. If they decide to go with one of the whacked out concepts, "Just In Time" for one, the chances of getting repair parts in a reasonable time are almost zero, to say nothing of parts for bashing or scratching.

There is a hierarchy in all companies, that of the newer ones being different from the older companies. Normally, the assembly line is the first taken care of, a line that isn't making product is eating money at a very high rate. Following that, the departments that feed the line, then purchasing of materials. Following that, the certification of vendors, allowing the parts to come in the door and go immediately to the line without any inspection.

But who's on top of all of this? Accounting! The bookworm that wouldn't know a body shell from a driver is the man that calls the shots. Accounting only knows the dollar value of any part of an operation, they aren't particularly concerned with things like "customer satisfaction", because they can't quantify it and balance it into a book.

If the company has maintained a structure where they can over ride the bookworm, then parts and service may be available in a reasonable time. If not, anyones guess. A company cannot supply parts that they do not stock.

Having ordered an MDC Climax and Box Cab, I'm still waiting. No products yet, but no back order slip either. Maybe in a year or two?

Greybeard

Based on dealings with Horizon over the years they like to be able to take care of problems with their proprietary products. The Athearn parts seem to be coming more into inventory. I've never had a problem getting repair parts. Now based on how fast they get parts to sell on order there may be gaps. If so Athearn directly sells parts as well.

Dave

I have no idea of the structure of horizon, and less inclination to find out. The half dozen or so diesels I have were picked up at swap meets for little or nothing, so, nothing by Athearn on my shelf. Just stating what usually happens when a company "goes big" and is run by a businessman, first, last and always. Theories that don't work replace experience and giving a damn about their customer base, then the downhill spiral begins. (Really, they want the customer base, it's the "whiners" that want to keep their older units running they don't want. So maybe they see me as a whiner, but that's their problem.) If I need parts, I don't want to be dead last in their system of who gets the parts. Once the bean counters are in control, that's where I'd be.

Greybeard

In article snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Greybeard at snipped-for-privacy@Nowhere.moose wrote on 2/2/05 11:18:

As my usual push--er, dealer--is fond of saying, "Jesus said He'll come back, but He' didn't say 'when.'"

Dieter Zakas

I wouldn't hold my breath wating for the Climax or Box Cab's to reappear. It had a miserable mechanism that not even NWSL would touch for upgrades. In fact in the 2005 list of products from Horizon (production schedule to dealers) it's not listed.

Dave

Dave

Hobby circle has it listed as "in stock", but after two weeks and not even an order confirmation, I have my doubts they have either in stock. Every other place I looked for them, if they even listed it, "out of stock" or "Not available". WHether NWSL would touch them or not means nothing, I have my mostly stock Climax, I made a new flywheel, creeping along at one inch per minute. It also looks like everything else MDC made, horizon might have, someday, their site says sometime about the first of June. Must be the fastest they can get them from China.

Greybeard